Forget About the Boy
by ifonly13
Summary: "This canary's ready to fly free... He's nothing but an albatross, no great loss."
1. No Great Loss

**_Disclaimer:** I wish... (The title comes from Thoroughly Modern Millie, so I don't even own that - that belongs to... whoever owns that show.)**_**

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><p>She heard the door to the study click shut. If he was going to write, she'd have to wait at least another five minutes for him to start up the SmartBoard, pick out music, and settle in at the desk for the night. If she didn't hear the playlist start playing, that meant he was headed to bed and she could sneak out immediately.<p>

Alexis pressed her back against the hallway wall, her heels dangling from her fingers, waiting to hear which option her father was going with. He thought she was in her room, working on her paper for her AP Literature class. What she was really doing was going out to a party that Paige had told her about. Her best friend had insisted that Alexis join her, something about getting over Ashley as quickly as possible. Alexis wasn't sure partying all night without telling her father was the best option, but part of her wanted to go.

So, when the quiet tapping of the keyboard joined OneRepublic's singing in the study, she took a deep breath and pushed off the wall, padding down the stairs. Out of habit, she scribbled a note on the magnetic pad of paper on the fridge just letting him know she was out and had her cell phone. Then, she tore the note off the pad and crumbled it in her hand, tossing it in the trash on her way past the bin. People who snuck out to college parties did not leave notes for their parents. And Alexis was determined to not be 'that girl' at the party; the one that was texting her father the entire time so he wouldn't freak out.

Once she was outside the apartment, she slipped the heels on before walking to the elevator. Eduardo raised a brow as she headed past him.

"You be careful, Miss Castle."

"Will do, Eduardo."

Alexis hailed a cab and gave him Paige's address. They were going to meet at her building, then share the cab to the party. The buddy system had been drilled into their brains having grown up in the city and even those habits died hard.

Paige slid into the cab, pulling down her mini skirt so it barely covered the tops of her thighs. "Hey girlie! You ready to get your funk on?"

"You bet." She tried to make it sound as excited as Paige's statement, but she was sure it was an uninspired performance. "Now, give the address so we can get going."

The apartment that was home to the party looked as sketchy as the rest of the area. The zigzagging fire escape was rusted and parts were hanging off the brick exterior. There was a homeless man sleeping next to the door as the two girls got out of the cab and walked over to ring the doorbell. The booming of a bass from a stereo echoed down the hallway to the apartment. Paige was the one to knock on the door as she tossed her brown hair over her shoulder.

"Girls, girls, girls!" exclaimed the young man as he opened the door. "Paige, my sweet heart, how are you?"

Paige leaned forward to give the man a kiss on the cheek. "Mike! Thanks for inviting me. I brought a friend." She stepped aside so that the man could see Alexis. "Mike, this is Alexis. Lexis, my friend Mike."

Mike took Alexis's hand and tugged her forward for a hug. Alexis could smell the alcohol on the guy's breath as he pushed back, keeping a grip on her wrist.

"Come in, come in! Plenty of party still left for the two loveliest ladies in New York!"

The apartment was a mess of red Solo cups, empty beer cans and vodka bottles, and crushed bags of chips. It was lit with a black light, turning the white of Alexis's top a ghostly blue-purple. The shades were pulled, turning the living room pitch black. It didn't hide the couple cuddling on the couch or the group of people dancing to the rap music coming from the iPod dock.

Alexis hesitated. This was wrong. She shouldn't be doing something this dramatic to get over a boy who was almost 4,000 miles away. She had nothing to prove to him. But then she shook her head and followed Mike and Paige further into the apartment. What could go wrong? She had her cell phone tucked next to the mace in her little purse and her father's basic hand-to-hand instructions playing in the back of her mind. Alexis Harper Castle could handle herself.

With a smile, she took the empty cup from Mike, watched as he poured the iced tea into the cup. She placed her hand over the top when the boy turned to pick up a half-full vodka bottle to pour some in.

"Aw, come on, little Lexi!" he drawled, waving the bottle in front of her eyes. "Just let loose for a night."

She pulled the cup from his grasp. "That's okay. I'm good."

Paige was rolling her eyes from behind Mike. "I'll take hers. She's still pining over her boyfriend."

"Ex-boyfriend," Alexis corrected, sniffing the iced tea before taking a sip. More safety rules from her father kicking in.

Mike smiled and Alexis had to notice that he looked something like the wolf when he spotted Little Red Riding Hood in the forest. She backed up and he followed. "Dance with me, Lexi."

Paige circled them and gave Alexis a shove. "Go party, Alexis. It'll be good for you."

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><p>This chapter was getting to him. The ones with children always did, but he had no control over how his murderers picked the victims; he was forced to go with the flow. Castle was happy to finally hit Ctrl+S at least five times, just to make sure it was really saved, before closing the laptop and setting it on the desk. He turned the iTunes playlist off, swung his feet off the desk where they had been propped, and closed down the SmartBoard. The clock on the desk told him it was nearing 2am but he needed to make sure his own kid was safe in her own bed, not bleeding out in an alleyway.<p>

He climbed the stairs two at a time, tripping at the top step when he miscounted. He caught himself on the rail, hoping he didn't wake Alexis up with his clumsiness. Her door was closed and the lights were off. That meant she was asleep, probably with "The Importance of Being Earnest" opened on her bed next to her.

Castle cracked the door open slowly, his eyes scanning the darkness for his daughter. But something was wrong. Her bed was neatly made, the pile of books and notebooks stacked on the bedside table.

"Alexis?" he whispered just loud enough to be heard but quiet enough so that he wouldn't wake her if she was sleeping in the armchair in the corner.

No response. He flicked the lights on and his suspicions were confirmed. Her bed was empty as was the chair.

Panic twisted its way through his stomach. He ran from her room, searching the guest room before running down the stairs. It was the tiny, still-rational part of his brain that stopped him from tearing apart the loft looking for her. There wasn't a note on the island, no voicemail or text on his cell.

Just as he picked up the phone, his finger over Beckett's speed dial, the door opened. He threw the phone onto the couch and swung around the corner. Alexis was stumbling in, leaning a hand against the wall to hook her heels off.

"Alexis?"

She looked up, brushing her hair back from her face. "Oh… Dad…"

"Yeah, Dad. Where were you?" His voice held barely contained anger mixed with concern.

She was frozen in place, blinking. "I, uh, was out. With Paige."

"Where?"

"At her friend's place. Just a little party."

He took a step forward as she picked up her heels. "With alcohol?" He held up a finger when she opened her mouth. "Think about the answer. I can smell it."

"Yeah, but I didn't have any." She walked past him, her feet steady as she took the first few steps on the stairs. "I know better, Dad. Goodnight."

Castle hesitated. He wanted to go upstairs and question her, find out exactly what happened that night and why there wasn't a message from her beforehand. The other part wanted to just let her come to him in her own time. In the end, the second part won out, at least for the night. Alexis was smart; when she wanted to talk, she'd search him out.

As he turned off lights in the kitchen and living room on the walk back to the study to go to bed, Castle couldn't help but think he needed some outside help, though. This was the second night in the past week that Alexis had come home later than usual. The first time, there had been a note. He was all for letting his daughter be independent, but sometimes, there was still a line and, in his opinion, it had been crossed tonight.

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><p><em>AN: Hey readers! Apparently I'm not too fantastic at the whole I'm-staying-away-from-writing-fanfiction-during-NaNoWriMo thing. But I wrote 5,080 words today which places me three days in advance of my daily goals so I deserve some fanfiction writing time._

_Anyway... This came from the traditional post-Castle episode fangirling message with my sidekick. She knows where it's going and so do I, but I'm not going to share it with anyone else. Just know that there is at least another chapter coming whenever I have the time to write it._

_Review and boost my spirits and I will love you forever._


	2. Blow the Blues a Kiss Goodbye

_A/N: Yes, this is a long time coming. Blame NaNoWriMo, the looming end of the semester, and a sudden stop of inspiration on this piece. Inspiration which struck after hitting my word quota on Thanksgiving._

_Quick reminder: I started this story before Alexis broke up with Ashley at the end of Cops and Robbers._

_**Disclaimer: Still not mine. Not even after I gave thanks to them all yesterday.**  
><em>

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><p>"I'm worried about Alexis."<p>

His statement caught her off-guard. She placed the ballpoint pen on top of the file, folding her hands, and turning to face him. He looked genuinely concerned, his fingers playing with the hem of his jacket, his eyes focused on that rather than on her.

"Why?"

He didn't look up. "She was out late last night. Really late."

Beckett hesitated. If she brushed off his concern, he'd be angry that she was belittling his emotions. But how far was too far with the advice on this topic? She was saved from her own mental battle when he continued to speak.

"On a school night. Beckett, you know Alexis. She never goes out on a school night and stays out past midnight." He turned his eyes up to hers and saw the level of anxiety held there.

She took a sip of the lukewarm coffee at her elbow. "Did you talk to her about it?" A rational question, one that shouldn't set him off on an emotional tirade.

"She got home at two in the morning and stormed off to bed. I hardly saw her before she went to school today." The sadness in his usually cheerful voice was unusual. The situation was unusual, so Beckett didn't comment.

"Castle, I don't know what you want from me. I haven't done the parenting thing before."

He sat forward, his arms balanced on the corner of her desk. "But you've done the daughter thing. Did you say you had a wild child phase?" She shrugged nonchalantly, a little concerned that he remembered those conversations where she had dropped teasing hints at her childhood to play with him. "I mean, your dad must have talked to you about that. Just… I don't know," he sighed, sitting back in the chair, pulling his hand through already ruffled brown hair.

"I'll talk to her."

He looked up and for the first time since he had wandered in that morning, she saw a flicker of hope in his eyes. She smiled, happy to have put the emotion back where it belonged. "Yeah," Beckett replied. "I'll talk to her after school today. Text her, Castle. Tell her I'll meet her at the Starbucks on 17th and Broadway."

His fingers flew over the touch screen of his phone before he set it on the desk. He placed his hand over one of hers before she resumed the writing of her report. "Thank you, Beckett."

"No problem. Now can we focus on the case?"

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><p>Alexis was already at a table near the window in the Starbucks when Kate double parked outside, using the NYPD plate to keep the unmarked from being towed, and ducked into the café.<p>

"Hey, Alexis," she said, sliding into the seat across from the teenage.

The girl was circling the top of the take-out cup with her pointer finger, the nail catching on the hole in the lid. "Beckett."

Kate unbuttoned her light spring jacket, leaning her forearms on the table between them. "How's school going?"

"Listen, I know my dad talked you into coming here to meet me." Her voice was firm as her clear blue eyes flashed up to Kate's. "And I don't need someone to baby me. Dad's just overreacting."

"You're right." Kate was speaking slowly, choosing her words carefully in case she shoved her foot further down her throat. "You don't need someone to baby you. You're seventeen and you are far more mature than most teenagers I know." Alexis rolled her eyes a little at the statement but Kate kept going, ignoring the movement. "That being said, last night really shook your dad to the core."

Alexis took a sip of the drink, her fingers playing with the cardboard sleeve. "He worries too much. That's Grams' genes showing."

"I think it's more than him being dramatic, Alexis. I've known your father for years and I think I've got a pretty good read on his emotions. He wasn't just blowing something out of proportion today. He's genuinely concerned for you."

Her words seemed to get though to Alexis. Her fingers stilled on her cup, moved to twisting strands of her hair but still avoiding Kate's eyes. "I'm fine."

"I was fine once. Until I nearly got busted for underage alcohol consumption." That got Alexis's attention. "No, I hadn't had anything to drink, but I was in the same room as the stuff and that counts. Bunch of friends had a party. After years of being the goody-two-shoes of the class, I decided to let my hair down and go out for once. Figured that they would play the music too loud and their neighbors would call the cops and find a group of high schoolers all drunk on their parents' booze. I was the only sober one in the room, sitting in the corner as I read a book. I'm still convinced the only reason that charge didn't appear on my juvenile record was because my mother pulled strings to make sure I wasn't brought down by one little mistake.

"That's all your dad is doing, Alexis. He's looking out for you like he should. He's worried."

Alexis was silent, staring at the lid of the cup, her breathing shallow. She was biting her lip in what appeared to be an attempt to hold back tears.

Kate stood, digging her wallet from the pocket of her jacket. "I'll be back in a minute."

Sure enough she returned with an iced tea, swirling the straw to mix in the sugar granules at the bottom of the plastic cup. Alexis looked a little more composed, so Kate spoke. "Speaking from experience, I can tell you that your father is going through the same thing my dad went through when I went through my wild child phase."

"Can't imagine you having a phase like that," Alexis murmured.

"Well it happened. And it was way worse than a single party and a late night, Alexis. It drove my parents up the wall and onto the ceiling since it was such a departure from my usual behavior. Their minds went to the worst possible scenario immediately; that's what lawyers do. I think the same goes for mystery writers. Both of those jobs require for the people in them to think like that. I'm not here to judge you because I've been in your seat, but I am going to ask that you think of your dad and what he must feel like."

Instead of the defiance that Kate had seen in Alexis's pretty eyes when they had first sat down, they were now soft with emotion as the girl struggled to keep a rein on her feelings. "Nothing happened, Beckett."

"Nothing has to happen for people to think the worst if you don't tell them."

"It was Paige's friends. They had alcohol at the apartment but I didn't drink any. Dad would have killed me. And he knows how to without leaving evidence; he's convinced he wrote the perfect crime. I wanted to leave as soon as I saw it but they'd laugh at me. I just wanted to fit in with that crowd, the fun-loving ones that blow off homework to party." Alexis took a sip of the drink to steady herself, giving a little one-shouldered shrug.

Kate smiled, just a lifting of the corner of her lips. "Except it doesn't end up as fun if that's not who you are. Alexis, I know we haven't talked a lot, but from what your father has told me, going out partying until two in the morning on a school night is not really your personality. What happened?"

"Ashley."

_Enter the boy that causes all the trouble._ Which had been Kate's problem all those years ago. "What about Ashley?" She made her voice a little gentler, making sure it didn't sound like an interrogation.

"He broke up with me. Said he couldn't keep up this long-distance thing. I just wanted to get him out of my mind and Paige was already going to this party, so I figured, two birds with one stone." Alexis wiped a stray tear off her cheek, hating the drop of saltwater almost as much as she hated the boy that had put it there in the first place.

After swishing the iced tea in the cup so the cubes clicked against each other, Kate smiled. "Alexis, you don't need a boy to hold you up. In fact, most of us do quite well without the testosterone following us around. Give yourself a few months to focus on yourself. You're a teenager. Nothing needs to be decided with your life right now."

Alexis's smile was a little brighter this time, nodding to herself. "I see why Dad likes you." The statement was so quiet that Kate could hardly hear it. Then, the girl's voice grew stronger. "You're right. But what should I tell Dad?"

"The truth. It's what he needs, no matter how hard it will be for him to hear or for you to say."

"Okay. Okay." Alexis sounded better already; less defensive and a little more open. Her fingers had stopped fidgeting with the cup or her sleeve or her hair.

"Can I drop you at home?" Kate asked. "I'm headed home and it's on the way."

The car ride was quiet but calm. As Alexis got out, before closing the passenger door, she leaned back in, her hair a curtain of red. "Thanks, Beckett. For everything."

"Anytime, Alexis."

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><p>Later that night, as Kate sat on her couch with Italian take-out and a book on Grace O'Malley, her phone vibrated.<p>

The text from Castle was a single line: _Thank you, Kate._

She put the fork down, balanced the book on her thigh as she typed out the response. _No problem._

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><p><em>AN: So, what do we all think? Let me know because I edited this while very sleep deprived. Which is just going to get worse as I force myself to go out clothes shopping on Black Friday (it's a tradition of mine to brave the crowds to get deals on jackets for winter)._

_Give me reviews to read as I stand in line at check-outs._


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